540F93510
SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Research and
Development
Washington, DC 20460
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
Washington, DC 20460
EPA/540/F-93/510
September 1993
Bioremediation
Field Initiative
BIOREMEDIATION
Field Initiative
Regional Off ices
5 ?*
San Francisco '
' < '*-
jjaijj&rjf''i;' /*»'
Universities
A cooperative effort of the U.S. EPA's Office of Research
and Development, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response, and regional offices, and other federal
agencies, state agencies, industry, and universities to
expand the nation's field experience in bioremediation
technologies for Superfund and other contaminated sites.
Background
Many of today's more promising technologies for solving hazardous waste prob-
lems involve bioremediation, an engineered process that relies on microorganisms,
such as bacteria or fungi, to transform hazardous chemicals into less toxic or
nontoxic chemicals. Until recently, however, the use of bioremediation has been
limited by a lack of information on the controlled application of biodegradative
processes to environmental cleanups.
In 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Bioreme-
diation Field Initiative as part of its overall strategy to increase the use of bioreme-
diation to treat hazardous wastes at Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) and other contaminated
sites. Recognizing the need to gather data on the many different waste types and
site conditions suitable for bioremediation, EPA's Superfund program made a major
investment in the Initiative. The Initiative is a cooperative effort among EPA's Office
of Research and Development (ORD), Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Re-
sponse (OSWER), and regional offices, and other federal agencies, state agencies,
industry, and universities. It is joined with other public and private efforts in
bioremediation through EPA's Bioremediation Action Committee (BAC), an affili-
ation of government, industry, and academic representatives working jointly to
expand the use of bioremediation.
A driving force for the Bioremediation Field Initiative is the commitment by the
Superfund program to seek the development of more cost-effective solutions, such
as bioremediation, to provide more permanent treatment of contaminated sites. Some
45 Superfund projects have already selected bioremediation. These sites demonstrate
an ongoing commitment to deploy state-of-the-art technology solutions.
Goals
The Initiative was launched with three primary goals:
To more fully assess and document the performance of full-scale bioremediation
field applications.
To create a data base of current field data on progress in determining the
treatability of contaminants.
(continued on page 4)
^Si Printed on paper that contains at least
\£$ 50 percent recycled fiber.
-------
Libby Ground Water
Site
Location: Libby, Montana
Laboratories/Agencies:
U.S. EPA Robert S. Ken-
Environmental Research
Laboratory (RSKERL), Utah
State University (USU),
U.S. EPA Region 8
Media and Contaminants:
Pentachlorophenol (PCP)
and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) in
soil and ground water
Treatment: Surface soil
bioremediation, aboveground
fixed-film bioreactor, in situ
bioremediation
Date of Initiative Selection:
Fall 1990
Objective: To evaluate the
performance of three
biotreatment processes for
degradation of PCP and
PAHs
Date
Spring 1
Objective1
effectivene
fuel in deep v;
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Laboratories/Agencies:
U.S. Air Force, U.S. EPA
Risk Reduction Engineering
Laboratory (RREL), U.S. EPA
Region 10
Media and Contaminants:
JP-4 jet fuel in shallow
unsaturated soil
itment: Bioventing with
and passive soil warming
initiative Selection:
To examine the use
of soil-warming technologies to
enhance the effectiveness of
bioventing jet fuel-
contaminated soil in a cold
climate
Reilly Tari
Chemical C
Location: St. Louis P
Minnesota
Laboratories/Agenc
U.S. EPA Risk Reduct
Laboratories/Agencies:
U.S. EPA Robert S. Ken-
Environmental Research
Laboratory (RSKERL), U.S.
EPA Region 8
Media and Contaminants:
BTEX in ground water
Treatment: In situ
bioremediation of ground water
with nutrient and hydrogen
peroxide addition
Date of Initiative Selection:
Spring 1991
Objective: To evaluate the
effectiveness of in situ
bioremediation of used oil and
the potential for future
environmental impact from
residual contaminants
Treat
tation,
BTEX
supple
Date
Spring
Objec
relativ
technc
petrolt
leakin
-------
Bioremediation Field Initiative
Evaluation Sites
Location: St. Joseph
Laboratories/Age
U.S. EP
Enviro
Labo
^^l^*^>-C*?*f SjpPw .C
^i^l^'jSfeJt; vS^y&^hiiW!
.err
rch
iKERL), Center for
:ology at Michigan
:ersity (MSU), U.S. EPA
, Michigan Department of
Resources
_ Contaminants:
ents in landfill and ground
water
Treatment: In situ
bioremediation of landfill material
and ground water
Date of Initiative Selection:
October 1992
Objective: To evaluate the
feasibility of bioremediating the
ground water and landfill material
KEY TO SITE
CONTAMINANTS
|X fermen-
|trification,
ition
th oxygen
re Selection:
valuate the
ness of three
.reating refined
:arbons from a
Laboratories/A
U.S. EPA Risk Ri
Engineering Laborati
(RREL), U.S. Depi
Agriculture Forest Prodi
Laboratory (FPL), Supe:
Innovative Technology
Evaluation (SITE) Progral
U.S. EPA Region 4
Media and Contaminants:
Pentachlorophenol (PCP) and
creosote sludge in soil
Treatment: White-rot fungi
Date of Initiative Selection:
Spring 1991
Objective: To evaluate the
effectiveness of white-rot fungi
treatment for wood preserving
wastes
PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS
«4 .
b*
*' " * -'- -'*>'
-------
UST 9%
Federal Facility
6%
RCRA 14%
Other 8%
150-
I 100-
15
1
| sol
CERCLA 63%
111
Soil
Ground Sediments Sludge
Water
Surface
Water
Figure 1. Breakdown ofbioremediation sites by legislative authority. maintenance costs.
Figure 3. Number of sites treating each media type.
treatment, status of cleanup, capital costs, and operation and
To provide technical assistance to regional and state site
managers using or considering bioremediation. Assis-
tance is provided in various stages of cleanup activities,
from site characterization to full-scale implementation.
Activities
Although most of the sites in the Initiative are Superfund
sites, bioremediation also is being used to clean up contami-
nation at federal facilities, Resource Conservation and Recov-
ery Act (RCRA) sites, and Underground Storage Tank (UST)
sites. The Initiative is providing support to states and regions
for intensive evaluation of bioremediation at nine selected
hazardous waste sites. These performance evaluations are
intended to generate data needed to define the capabilities of
bioremediation technology. These data will enable state and
EPA project managers, consulting engineers, and industry to
make better informed decisions about applying bioremedia-
tion in the field. For field performance evaluations, sites are
nominated and selected through the regional offices or
through the states with concurrence from the regional offices.
In addition to conducting performance evaluations, the In-
itiative has identified a rapidly growing number of other sites
across the country that are considering, planning, or currently
operating bioremediation technologies, or that have com-
pleted bioremediation activities. The Initiative currently is
monitoring progress at over 150 of these sites and creating an
electronic data base of site information. For each site, the data
base contains information on contaminants, media, type of
100]
80
11
Petroleum Wood Solvents Pesticides Other
Preserving
Wastes
Figure 2. Breakdown of sites by type of contamination.
4
Sites in the data base include federal facilities, Superfund
sites, RCRA sites, and UST sites. Over 60 percent of the sites
fall under CERCLA authority, but the Initiative has begun to
recognize an increasing number of sites under UST and
RCRA authority (Figure 1). Monitored sites are distributed
throughout all 10 EPA regions, with over 40 percent located
in Regions 5 and 9. Analysis of the data base reveals that
petroleum is the contaminant most frequently bioremedi-
ated, with wood preserving wastes a close second (Figure 2).
Soil and ground water are the media most frequently treated
with bioremediation technologies (Figure 3). Sites in the data
base are undergoing a range of in situ and ex situ treatments,
including land treatment, bioventing, bioreactor treatment,
nutrient addition, and many other techniques.
The Initiative publishes a quarterly bulletin, entitled Bioreme-
diation in the Field, which is distributed to over 5,000 individu-
als involved in the application of bioremediation. The
bulletin contains a matrix of information on the status of sites
identified by the Initiative, as well as updates on performance
evaluations, new technologies, resources, and regulations.
Past articles have discussed an extensive program to remedi-
ate Air Force sites using bioventing, permitting issues related
to the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the im-
pact of new land disposal restrictions on bioremediation, and
the use of encapsulated microorganisms for bioprevention
and bioremediation.
BIOREMEDIATION FIELD INITIATIVE CONTACTS
Fran Kremer, Ph.D.
Coordinator
Bioremediation Field Initiative
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Michael Forlini
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
OS-HOW
Technology Innovation Office
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
401 M Street, SW.
Washington, DC 20460
To be added to the Bioremediation Field Initiative's mailing
list to receive the bulletin, updates on the fact sheets, and
other bioremediation information, please call 513-569-7562.
*U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1993-0-723-518
------- |